On “CUREs” Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences
Forbes
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11/26/18
“CUREs have five defining characteristics. First, they contain an element of discovery: the student scientists are bringing brand-new data to light. Second, the experimentation in which they engage involves “iteration”: repeating a process a number of times, altering a single variable to find out what happens. Third, participants experience a significant degree of collaboration, with their peers and with the expert scientists who are their instructors. Fourth, students learn how to execute professional practices, from using techniques like pipetting to applying meta-theories like the scientific method. And fifth, the subject of their investigations is “broadly relevant”—of interest to people outside the class and perhaps even worthy of publication in a scientific journal.”